Not sure how it's being handled in the States, but here in France the missing British girl in Portugal has been on the news a lot. (Note: This is not a post about that particular child, whom we fervently hope will be reunited with her parents. Nor is it a critique of her parents, merely a starting off point to discuss cultural differences, so save the nasty comments Snarky McFlamesalot, you know who you are.)
There are quite a few parents who feel it's safe to leave children unattended -- either in hotel rooms while out dining, or in an apartment while running a quick errand. Many Portuguese say it's not necessary, touting their cultural practice of taking young children and babies to late dinners. And we mean late, these people eat close to midnight! Agnes remembers an incident in NYC about 8 years ago when a Danish woman was arrested (and then strip-searched!) after leaving her child in a stroller outside a restaurant while she went inside for a drink. The woman's defense: it was common practice in Denmark. Here in Paris, it is not rare to see a stroller parked outside a store while the adult is inside. It usually happens when the store is so small, or filled with breakables, that maneuvering a stroller would be near impossible. The other day, we stopped by our local epicerie and John ran inside while Agnes stayed outside with Roxy. Another woman approached, parked her stroller behind ours and went inside:
Unfortunatelly in this day and age you need to guard your kids 24/7 never know what sicko might be out there. I have 2 dogs and I never leave them unattended for a second while I need to go in a store and we are talking dogs ........
Posted by: Rika | May 16, 2007 at 12:21 PM
I think it's an ingrained (sp?) cultural thing and probably not something that one could "teach" to the Americans.
We could not teach Americans to not only not take an unattended baby, but to not touch one (my infant would get touched by strangers while I was HOLDING him, nevermind when he was sitting in his stroller) nor completely freak out if one were to see an unattended baby.
There is no precedent for what to do when one sees an unatteded baby here, besides to call the police, whereas in a place like Denmark or Paris, there already is a standard for seeing unattended babies, so people pretty much know how to handle it.
That said, I would not leave my young child unattended in a stroller or in a hotel room, here in the US or in Europe. I would never be able to forgive myself if something happened to him. If I was raised in a country where it was the norm, I probably would feel differently. As a parent, you have to do what YOU feel comfortable with, no matter what the custom is. That's all that matters.
Posted by: Rebecca A. | May 18, 2007 at 11:55 AM
just read an interesting article about this. here in munich women also used to leave their children outside alone but have recently stopped, probably due to stories like this. so sad.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18726957/from/ET/
Posted by: kym | May 19, 2007 at 07:40 AM